"It's a sort of last will I'm writin', too," added Dennis. "I niver have written a will whin I was goin' into battle the way some o' th' boys do, but whin I have to face the sintence of bein' shot as a desarter, which I niver was, and if the Saints will presarve me, I niver shall be—"
"I heard of a woman back here," broke in Noel, "who made a will and left her shoestrings to her sister."
"Bedad," said Dennis, "I niver thought o' that. 'Tis a good suggestion! I'm goin' to leave mine to Levi Kadoff. There ought to be enough of them to hang him with. Faith, and if I had him here now—"
The conversation of the two young soldiers was interrupted once more by the return of the chaplain. Still he had not received any information and the messenger, who he assured the boys had been dispatched, had not as yet returned.
In spite of the desire of the good man to encourage the boys, and his apparently unshaken confidence that in the end all would be well, the feeling of uncertainty and injustice still possessed both Noel and Dennis. They had been forgotten, they assured themselves, by the men who knew them best and at such a time as this could bring them aid. Of what good was it that they had been selected for positions of danger and had been among the sharpshooters, doing their part in holding back the enemy around Williamsburg and at Malvern Hill?
Even if the desire had been in the minds of the young soldiers, the opportunity to escape was gone. The guard was changed every hour now, and there was no question that the muskets of the marching soldiers were loaded. There was no blank cartridge here.
Noel's strong desire was to receive word from those who knew him. But just where that division of the army now was located he did not know, nor was he positive that there would be an opportunity in the presence of threatening events for an investigation to be made which would relieve him from the charge which was hanging over him.
A third visit from the chaplain still failed to bring the desired news. The depression of the boys was so manifest that the chaplain apparently made a special effort to cheer them.
"There was a little fellow back here near the colonel's tent who somehow made me think of you two boys. You have told me about the little sutler. Let me see, what did you say his name is?"
"Levi. Levi Kadoff," answered Noel.